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Manifesto UF
Manifesto UF — Anthology Genre and Sub-Genres Urban Fantasy Theme Urban Fantasy without formulas, tropes and confines :Themes: Redemption plays a huge role in this anthology, since many of the main characters have fallen from grace or are making up for shortcomings from times past. In order to regain balance of power or to redeem their previous mistakes, it means helping others who cannot help themselves. : Many characters are also seeking justice for themselves or for the innocent. With enduring conflicts and forsaken people, making up for this becomes possible by conquering the evil at the root of the turmoil. Even if it means sacrificing a piece of themselves, the tradeoff for is sometimes worth the price. ~ Tim's Reviews Description From angels to vampires, dragons to wizards, Manifesto brings together twenty-three stories full of action, snark, and unadulterated badassery. "Manifesto is urban fantasy in its rawest, most elementary form. It is a constant source of surprises. Without the restraints of formulas, tropes and confines of the genre itself, one never quite knows what to expect. Here's to hoping that these editors will put together something similar very, very soon." -- The Nocturnal Library Editor and Authors Editor: Tim Marquitz Contributors: (mostly Indie or new writers) Tyson Mauermann (UF, Fant), Lucy A. Snyder (UF, Fant), Jeff Salyards (Fant, Milit-Fant, Sci), Teresa Frohock (SciFi, Fant, Hor, Fict), William Meikle (Hor, sci-fant, Thrill), Betsy Dornbusch (UF, Epic-Fant, Sci, Thill, Erot), Zachary Jernigan (SciFi, Fant), Kirk Dougal (Fant, Myst, SciFi), Ryan Lawler (Fant, Hor, Graph-nov), T.S.P. Sweeney (Fant, Hor, SciFi), Jonathan Pine (Non-Fict), Andrew Moczulski (UF, Hor), Nickolas Sharps (Fant), Joshua S. Hill (only story), Lincoln Crisler (Hor, SciFi, Comics), Kenny Soward (Fant), J.M. Martin (Fant, Hor, Para), Adam Millard (Hor, SciFi, Weird-Fict), Abhinav Jain (SciFi, Fant), Wilson Geiger (Fant, Post-Apoc), Rebecca Treadway (Hor, Fant), Jake Elliot (Fant, Hor), Karina L. Fabian (UF, Fant, SciFi, Hum, Shorts), Timothy Baker (Hor, Shorts, Fant) Supernatural Elements Revenant, zombies, vampire, dragon PI, dragon, parallel world: Erth, lycanthrope, mages, angels, wizard, changelings, Magical Marine Corps, demons, gods, sorcerers, . . . * Revenant: someone who died, but wasn't wanted by either side so they sent him back to Earth; * Dharmayoddha: Warrior of faith; Stories 1. "Rev" – Kirk Dougal : A revenant (someone who died, but wasn't wanted by either side so they sent him back to Earth) tries desperately to redeem his past sins in hopes of dying and finally staying dead this time. ✥ Focuses on Revenants and the protagonist of the story is one seeking escape from his undead lifestyle. An old Welsh legend might be the key to his salvation but can he beat fate? This story has an odd twist to the usual zombie story. ✤ A revenant tries desperately to redeem his past sins in hopes of dying and finally staying dead this time. ✤ 2. "I’m an Animal. You’re an Animal, Too" – Zachary Jernigan. :A female vampire (or something akin to vampires) searches for the next person to turn into one of her own. this three hundred-year-old creature without pity or compassion, completely unrestrained in every way. ✤ Raw bleeding edge of what it means to be an inhuman creature and creating more of your kind. ✤ The story is simply about an initiation unlike any other and with enough doses of savagery and black humor. ✤ 3. "Los Lagos Heat" – Karina FabianThe Case Files of DragonEye series : A dragon private investigator tries to solve two seemingly unconnected cases at once. ✤ Focuses on Vern and is a short story from The Case Files of DragonEye series. In this world wherein the Faerie and the Mundane have met and struck up awkward symbiosis of sorts, Vern gets handed a case of a missing dryad. Of course nothing is as ever simple in any P.I. story and in this one, there’s crime, magic and gods muddying the waters. ✤ 4. "Savage Rise" – Adam Millard :An unknown horror killed all the residents in a high rise exactly one year ago, and now it's happening again in another high rise across town. ✤ Frank recalls the horrific event he underwent nearly a year ago in Birmingham, UK. ✤ 5. "Front Lines, Big City" – Timothy Baker :A Mage (spell caster) living as a self-made prisoner in downtown New Kansas City. A former soldier in the Magical Marine Corps. When the Second Civil War ended he became a fugitive on the run after an act of congress turned him and his comrades into criminals. ✤ This story was something more in line with Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series and features an unnamed narrator who is caught up with a terrible situation. ✤ The United States has survived its 2nd civil war. Both sides of the broken United States employed sorcerers to get the job done, but after the war, the winner decided that sorcerers were too dangerous to keep alive. This is the story of two surviving sorcerers…or maybe only one. ✤ The protagonist is a Mage, a spellcaster. This one living as a self-made prisoner in downtown New Kansas City. A former soldier in the Magical Marine Corps. When the Second Civil War ended he became a fugitive on the run after an act of congress turned him and his comrades into criminals. ✤ 6. "Break Free" – Ryan Lawler :Max is the protagonist who is trying to break free his father from a prison high up in the clouds—high-octane story that mixes explosive story with magic. ✤ 7. "Naked the Night Sings" – Teresa Frohock :There's elements of horror in the story of a musician whose bargain is far more complicated than he suspects. ❖ Tells of a musician who was almost good enough to be somebody, but not quite. Failing yet another audition by a margin, a mysterious woman promises him a worthy gift in exchange for retrieving a simple gift for her. She offers him the duende, a deep knowledge of the dark sounds, if he would only retrieve a small bit of yarn that is being kept by a dragon. ✤ (Elegant prose and dark settings. Not only does the author does her best in creating a rich, dark atmosphere but she also goes about creating admirable characters who leave you hooked onto the story. ~ FBC) ✤ 8. "Double Date" – Andrew Moczulski :Two individuals take different routes to get to the same pest. The story is told through the eyes of Eric Margrave who is a hunter and has a strange partner. His most recent mission however will bring him into more trouble and a competitor as well. ✤ ✤ 9. "That Old Tree" – R.L. Treadway :Set in a neighborhood with a typical cast of characters. A tale about retribution that is seen through the eyes of an ancient one, That Old Tree. ✤ 10. "Dharmasankat" – Abhinav Jain :The story focuses on Vikram, a warrior in training to be a Dharmayoddha. He gets tasked to deal with a rather obnoxious guru whose wishes seem to be unholy to say the least. UF with an Indian twist. ✤ Blend of historical and urban fantasy in a most unusual and rare place to set a story: 18th century, post-Mughal Empire India. ✤ Vikram is assigned an unusual quest, one in which he entertained serious doubts. urban fantasy with a strong infusion of ancient Indian mythology. ✤ 11. "Nephilim" – TSP Sweeney :Focus is on angels with a good noir-ish edge to it. Dantalion, a fallen angel who is hunting the source of a new drug called “neph” in Hong Kong. Dantalion soon finds that there are more things in Heaven and earth than thought of by Horatio or him and that might soon be the end of him. ✤ Here on Earth, there are fallen angels, and then there are Fallen angels. Dantalion is one of the fallen, and while waiting for Judgment, he works for a pharmaceutical company that recently lost an experimental drug. It’s an experimental drug with a side effect that gets people really freakin’ high. Not surprisingly, it’s turned up as a new street drug being coined Nephilim. ✤ 12. "Toejam & Shrapnel" – Nickolas Sharps :A writer named Cathan Keene is trying to write his new mystery while being in a locked room of sorts. Pretty soon he finds out that things are going south at a rate he can’t manage and thus he finds himself in the company of our titular characters. ✤ 13. "Green Grow the Rashes" – William Meikle :The story opens up with a person who via his monologue explains certain things about the environment and the plot happenings. ✤ story about finding new spirit after being burnt-out and weighed down by life's tragedies. ✤ 14. "Under the Dragon Moon" – Jonathan Pine :Kyle is a person who has lost his love and soon finds that there might be people who had a hand in it. They however don’t know what they might be facing. ✤ 15. "Gold Dust Woman" – Kenny Soward :A story that takes several different elements and genres to combine itself into an urban fantasy beast, which is one of a kind. Celix is a drug addict who is running away from troubles that cant be contained. Unfortunately for her, her pursuers have sent someone that could be a friend. Whom does she trust and can she still find the power within her to say no and survive. ✤ 16. "Wizard’s Run" – Joshua S. Hill :The wizard is shown to be running through the streets of Melbourne (Australia) while being pursued by an unknown number of assailants. ✤ One long chase scene—it had the eventual confrontation with weapons and magic. ✤ 17. "Chains of Gray" – Betsy Dornbusch :The story set in recent times but occurs in an unnamed place. Suriel is the protagonist of the story and also a Grigori, despised by the angels for his love of mankind. However recent angel deaths have forced Gabriel to seek his aid and when Suriel discovers who is behind all of it, he will be forced to make a tough decision. Showcases angel's internecine struggles. ✤ angel who had long been banished from the heavenly fold for his humanly love of a mortal. Suriel is called upon to aid angels in solving a crime. In doing so, Suriel is forced to revisit the events of his estrangement. This is a story about redemption, not necessarily of the traditional vein but redemption through the eyes of the individual faced with such opportunity. ✤ 18. "Bloody Red Sun of Fantastic LA" – Jake Elliot :An archangel comes to Hollywood hunting the demon, Ba'al. Spectators believe they are witnessing a publicity stunt. Soon, they will learn otherwise. Goodreads ✤ Features angels and demons particularly Mikael and Ba’al. There's a confrontation between the two entities in the streets of Los Angeles and over it. ✤ A showdown between Mikael the Archangel and Ba'al in the streets of LA. ✤ 19. "Queen’s Blood" – Lincoln Crisler :Max has the ability to cross over to a parallel world, a place he calls Erth because it’s almost, but not quite, a mirror image of our own. ✤ Features a guy called Max who retrieves things for people who can’t be helped by the police. In his most recent case, he’s trying to recover a young girl who’s been kidnapped and also figure out who is behind it all. ✤ 20. "Beneath a Scalding Moon" – Jeff Salyards :A single mom takes a young man home from a bar...only to discover her sexual appetite has awakened something primal deep inside of her...something deadly. She is actually a lycanthrope, but didn’t realize until it is too late. ✤ Story of an older woman dating a younger man. This after having been bitten by a mountain lion. ✤ Cassie is the protagonist of the story that has a cavalier attitude towards life and her sexual partners. Going gung-ho she discovers that perhaps all is not well with her, but the optimist that she is, she never lets it get in the way of her next lay. ✤ It deals with a woman's unexpected transformation and how she deals with the transition. Any change involves a crossroad, a point of decision-making. Cassie, the lead in this story, must determine how much value she places on freedom, desire and satisfaction. ✤ Creepy, post-apocalyptic tale populated by various legendary creatures. This is like a turf war on a grander scale. It is always wise to determine who exactly you are starting a war with. ✤ 21. "Separation Anxiety" – J.M. Martin :Incorporates several mythologies and also showcases a post-apocalyptic theme smartly. ✤ Creepy, post-apocalyptic tale populated by various legendary creatures a la 'Cabin in the Woods' (but with a better story). Without giving away the complex plot, this is like a turf war on a grander scale. It is always wise to determine who exactly you are starting a war with. ✤ 22. "Blessing and Damnation" – Wilson Geiger :A story about what happens when a demon decides to break all accord and nomenclature that has been set since the heavenly war. Norshael is the other demon chosen to stop the previous one and his task has him co-opting a human body whose owner might be more than what he thought. ✤ A rogue denim threatens the tenuous peace that exists in the world. Another demon, Norshael, is dispatched to stop him. A demon can only move on earth by appropriating a human body. Norshael serendipitously inhabits the body of mortal with unexpected skills. It may just be Norshael that ends up being saved. ✤ 23. "Jesse Shimmer Goes to Hell" – Lucy A. Snyder — Jessie Shimmer series (excert: Switchblade Goddess) :Self contained story with a kick-ass heroine, and a really interesting use of worldbuilding on the old trope of breaking into the realms below. ✤ Lucy Snyder focuses on her debut series character Jesse Shimmer. Jesse is forced to look for a person named Miko however Miko might not entirely amiable to being found. ✤ Told from a demon’s point of view. A superior demon had gone rogue, escaping hell and has gone rampaging through our world spreading an infernal disease. He is intentionally trying to break the peace between Heaven and Hell. The powers of Hell order another demon to rise and stop the stronger demon. ✤ A fast-paced, action-packed, magic-heavy tale about rescuing trapped souls, with a dash of revenge thrown in for good measure. ✤ Cover Summary From angels to vampires, dragons to wizards, Manifesto brings together twenty-three stories full of action, snark, and unadulterated badassery. Featuring stories from Lucy A. Snyder, Jeff Salyards, William Meikle, Teresa Frohock, Zachary Jernigan, Betsy Dornbusch, and more. The time has come to make a statement, to define a genre. This is our manifesto. ~ Manifesto: UF References Category:Anthologies